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Monitoring the Mental Health Act report

Monitoring the Mental Health Act in 2016/17: Amendments

This document has been amended after our analysts found that we had displayed some data gathered by Mental Health Act reviewers on their visits in an inaccurate way.

An explanation for the amendments:

Up until 2015/16, we used ‘Yes/No’ categories to document specific types of data gathered by Mental Health Act Reviewers on their visits. In 2015/16, we added an option for Reviewers to use a category of ‘Requires improvement’. This gave Reviewers the option of documenting that the provider had shown some evidence of meeting requirements, but that it still required improvement.

When working on the 2016/17 report, our analysts found that Reviewers had been inconsistent in how they had documented this information. Some had recorded results with just ‘Yes’ or ‘No’, while others had recorded ‘Yes’, ‘No’, or ‘Requires improvement’.

In preparing the report, we sought to present the information in the ‘Yes/No’ style to show a trend from past results. However, in doing so we combined the responses of ‘Requires improvement’ with the ‘No’ responses, which was inaccurate. As a result, we have amended the report.

Monitoring the Mental Health Act in 2016/17, our annual report on the use of the Mental Health Act (MHA), looks at how providers are caring for patients, and whether patient’s rights are being protected.

Overview

During 2016/17, we carried out 1,368 monitoring visits, met with 4,114 patients and required 6,475 actions from providers.

Our Second Opinion Appointed Doctor service carried out 14,594 visits to review patient treatment plans, and changed treatment plans in 26% of their visits.

We received 2,353 complaints and enquiries about the way the MHA was applied to patients.

We were notified of 186 deaths of detained patients by natural causes, 54 deaths by unnatural causes and 7 yet to be determined verdicts.

We were notified of 642 absences without leave from secure hospitals.

Our findings

We have seen limited or no improvement in the key concerns we have raised in previous years.

We found:

38% (1,366 of 3,616) of care plans reviewed showed limited or no evidence of patient involvement

20% (737 of 3,606) showed limited or no evidence of consideration of the patient’s particular needs

38% (745 of 1,980) showed limited or no evidence of the patient’s views

21% (764 of 3,567) showed limited or no evidence of consideration of the least restrictive options for care

34% (932 of 2,773) showed limited or no evidence of discharge planning.

Previous Monitoring the Mental Health Act reports

You can read our annual reports from previous years on The National Archives website: